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A few hours before becoming the first person in Colombia to be eligible for a dignified death, Martha Liria Sepúlveda received the news that her euthanasia procedure was canceled. The woman suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and had expressed feeling “happy” with her decision. However, the Colombian Pain Institute announced that the procedure was suspended for not meeting “the termination criteria.”
“The termination criterion is not met.” It was the justification for which the Interdisciplinary Scientific Committee for the Right to Die with Dignity of the Colombian Institute of Pain canceled the euthanasia procedure that the Colombian Martha Liria Sepúlveda was going to receive. The statement from the Colombian Pain Institute also indicates that the determination was given by a unanimous vote.
The procedure was scheduled for this Sunday, October 10 at 7:00 in the morning and in the previous days, Sepúlveda had said that he felt “happy” to be able to die with dignity.
The desire to be euthanized was due to the physical suffering of which he has suffered since he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable disease that affects neurons and causes severe muscle weakness.
Sepúlveda, who considers herself a fervent Catholic, affirmed that it is God who “does not want to see me suffer.” A statement that, in a country of deep belief, resounded in the ears of religious organizations and the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, which urged her to desist from her decision stating that “the only solution is not to end life.”
“Death cannot be the therapeutic response to pain and suffering in any case. Death caused by assisted suicide or euthanasia is not compatible with our interpretation of the dignity of human life, as is the use of palliative care, “said Francisco Antonio Ceballos, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Life.
However, for Martha it is her solution. And his family supports him to undergo euthanasia, which in Colombia was decriminalized in 1997, in 2015 it became law, and this July the Constitutional Court extended it to those who feel “intense physical or mental suffering” due to to an incurable injury or disease.
“I think I show more love if I support her”
Martha Liria Sepúlveda’s procedure was the first authorized in the country for a patient without a terminal illness. According to national legislation, to access this practice, life expectancy must be less than six months.
Sepúlveda knew that the ordeal in which he lives as a result of his illness was going to last at least three more years, so he fought for several months to achieve his goal, which was frustrated after the decision on Saturday.
“With lateral sclerosis in the state that I have it, the best thing that can happen to me is that I go to rest,” said the Colombian in an interview with the newspaper ‘El Tiempo’.
In a first-person testimony, recounted by his son Federico Redondo Sepúlveda for the BBC Mundo network, the 22-year-old young man tells how difficult it was to hear his mother say that he wanted to die.
“I consider myself a very liberal person, I thought that the right to euthanasia is a right that must be protected, but I never saw it as something close. But then, becoming a little aware of the precarious condition in which she was, and Out of her despair, and the indignity in which I was, I said: ‘I think I show my love more if I support her in this decision she made,’ “Federico said in the interview.
Martha’s son described some difficult moments lived with his mother, such as when he began to lose strength in his legs and arms, to the point of not being able to go to the bathroom or get dressed alone.
Euthanasia in Colombia: a long legal road
It was in 1997 when euthanasia processes were decriminalized in the country. But only until 2015 did it become law. Since April of that year, a total of 94 people have received the procedure in the South American country.
Sepúlveda’s case was to become the first to be included in the new guidelines of the Colombian Constitutional Court, which in July had extended euthanasia to people suffering from “intense physical or mental suffering” due to an injury or illness. incurable.
So the procedure that was planned for this Sunday was going to become a milestone in the country as it was the first to be carried out without the condition of a terminal illness.
With EFE and local media
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